Calcium for young piggies

[Winniepeg]

Hi folks. My four boys are all under 5 months old. Having had piggies before one of which my gorgeous Dougal had kidney stones and subsequently passed away aged 3 (inoperable) I am very mindful about the level of calcium I give. I am also aware that youngsters need calcium for bone and teeth health. I would be very grateful for any advise/guidance regarding how much high calcium e.g parsley they should have in a week. I give them a tablespoon of Burgess excel nuggets each a day . Thank you

 

[Piggies&buns]

How far under five months?
To be honest, I would still follow the sample diet if they aren’t tiny babies. They should still be getting all they need if you follow it. Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Parsley should be used sparingly and as a treat, perhaps a sprig or two once week. i do now, and have always, only given one high calcium food a week, so if they get kale that week, they won’t get spinach or parsley that week etc.

 

[PigglePuggle]

I agree with @Piggies&buns , 4 of our piggies came to us as youngsters (youngest 9 weeks old) and we fed them a normal balanced adult diet, grain free pellets, unlimited hay, mostly low calcium veg like peppers and cucumber and coriander. We might feed a higher calcium veg twice a week but definitely no more and in limited amounts (like 2 or 3 stems or parsley, or 6 spinach leaves, or 1 piece of baby broccolli). They have all become healthy adults no problem, even our skinny pig and there are many online myths about skinny pigs having specialist diets!

 

[Winniepeg]

My boys are 10 weeks to three months. Thank you so much because I have been sparing with the high calcium foods and you have put my mind at rest that I’m doing the right thing. I thought I may have been too frugal with the higher calcium food

 

[DMS260820]

I agree with @Piggies&buns , 4 of our piggies came to us as youngsters (youngest 9 weeks old) and we fed them a normal balanced adult diet, grain free pellets, unlimited hay, mostly low calcium veg like peppers and cucumber and coriander. We might feed a higher calcium veg twice a week but definitely no more and in limited amounts (like 2 or 3 stems or parsley, or 6 spinach leaves, or 1 piece of baby broccolli). They have all become healthy adults no problem, even our skinny pig and there are many online myths about skinny pigs having specialist diets!

This is what I have done with Dot and Bernie, and I have also lost a Guinea pig to 3 bladder stones, and back then I fed too much Parsley, kale, spinach, although I was feeding the same diet to both boars for years, one died age 6 from 3 stones, his brother ( same litter) died age 7, not once did he have bladder problems and he always peed white stains out but never gritty.

I believe it depends on the Guinea pig and the diet.

I stick to this daily

Grain free science selective ( 1 tbl spoon, per pig per day)

Daily veg - 1 sprig coriandor, red and green bell Pepper slices
Cucumber 1 ring each, 1 ring of parsnip each and 1 chuck of celery each.

Grass daily when it is nice weather out to pick it.

Filtered tap water trough a wilko filter jug.

I refuse to say so far so good, because there is a beast up there, somewhere in the sky that's sees life is going well and will give one of my pigs a problem.

I add in kale twice a week, and dill, and some raddichio

 

[Winniepeg]

Thank you. When I got my first duo of boys I sourced information on the internet. Diet information was so conflicting and I was so confused. I then sourced books from the library but only realised having great advice from the sanctuary and on this forum that things have moved on and those books were out dated. I can’t help but feel if I knew then what I know now my Dougal and Leo would have survived longer. There’s not a day goes by without feeling regret. I need to make sure that I’m making informed choices now. I attach photo of Dougal and Leo my forever princes. Thanks again

 

[PigglePuggle]

Thank you. When I got my first duo of boys I sourced information on the internet. Diet information was so conflicting and I was so confused. I then sourced books from the library but only realised having great advice from the sanctuary and on this forum that things have moved on and those books were out dated. I can’t help but feel if I knew then what I know now my Dougal and Leo would have survived longer. There’s not a day goes by without feeling regret. I need to make sure that I’m making informed choices now. I attach photo View attachment 124540of Dougal and Leo my forever princes. Thanks again

Be kind to yourself, I think most of us have kept guinea pigs in the past based on advice that would nowadays seem awful, but at the time was the best available! My first guinea pig Boris (35 years ago!) lived alone in a 3ft hutch eating carrots and muesli every day until he died of a heart attack age 2... that was the expected lifespan then... all we can ever do for our animals is our best based on the best advice available at the time, fortunately the best advice improves all the time now and some experts on the forum like Wiebke have had many piggies living to 8 years or more and every day they teach us new stuff based on their own experiences that help us keep our piggies happier and healthier for longer if we are lucky! X

 

[Winniepeg]

Be kind to yourself, I think most of us have kept guinea pigs in the past based on advice that would nowadays seem awful, but at the time was the best available! My first guinea pig Boris (35 years ago!) lived alone in a 3ft hutch eating carrots and muesli every day until he died of a heart attack age 2... that was the expected lifespan then... all we can ever do for our animals is our best based on the best advice available at the time, fortunately the best advice improves all the time now and some experts on the forum like Wiebke have had many piggies living to 8 years or more and every day they teach us new stuff based on their own experiences that help us keep our piggies happier and healthier for longer if we are lucky! X

Thank you for that it means a lot. X